Contentions

Quietly, Israel has built an enormous defense relationship with the second-most populous country on earth. Although both sides have kept this fairly quiet — we didn’t see massive public Israeli involvement in the wake of the Mumbai bombings, for instance — the Jerusalem Postreported yesterday that Israel has displaced Russia as India’s biggest defense supplier, averaging over $1 billion in new defense contracts in the last two years. Despite Israel’s sense of diplomatic isolation, we do not see a widespread cancellation of contracts, not even with Turkey, even with the growing rancor and anti-Israel rhetoric coming out of Ankara. Today Haaretzreports a $215 million radar deal agreed on with South Korea.

According to a report as of September 2007, Israel is the fourth-largest defense exporter on earth, after the U.S., Russia, and France. Just for a little perspective.